VOORHEES – I pull into the parking lot at Kresson Golf Course just before 1 p.m. on a muggy late-July afternoon to play a full round of golf. But I’m not going to use any clubs.

Heck, I’m not even going to use my arms.

Replacing the full bag of clubs and those little dimpled white balls that seem attracted to water and brush are feet and soccer balls.

I’m about to play FootGolf, a sport rapidly gaining popularity in the United States. Kresson jumped aboard the trend when it opened its FootGolf course on July 13.

Joe Slater, the greenskeeper at Kresson, greets me near the first FootGolf tee box and introduces me to my competitors for the afternoon. One is his brother, 19-year-old Drew Slater, and the other is 21-year-old Mic Keys. Both are Atco residents, both work at the golf course and both are in considerably better shape than the out-of-shape journalist who will huff and puff his way through the 18 holes situated over the front 9 of the golf course.

My chances aren’t good, but here goes nothing…

After a brief stretch, Mic starts off the afternoon with a booming and beautiful strike to the fairway. Drew then pulls his soccer ball slightly to the left but it’s not a bad shot. OK, I’m up. After a deep breath, I yank my shot even more to the left but somehow manage to sink my ball into the 21-inch cup in four strokes to save par.

I cruise through the next three holes: 3, 5, 4. And through four holes, I somehow manage to shoot 16, 1-over competition par and 2-under recreation par. Better yet, I’m keeping up with my younger counterparts.

“I got this,” I think.

Wrong.

As my new friends Drew and Mic are crushing balls from the tee boxes, my weak, pathetic shot off the fifth tee rolls a good 20 feet. I eventually take an 8 on the hole.

The next hole starts with great promise. After a couple weak but effective boots, I almost drop a near-impossible birdie with a long, sweeping and rolling hook shot that navigated a hill from about 45 feet out. Had the ball found the bucket, it would have easily been the shot of the day and I was prepared to walk off the course a la George Costanza.

But alas, it rolls past the oversized hole and down the hill. I finish with my second straight 8, 4-over competition par and 3-over recreation.

Growing sport

The United States FootGolf Association says there are approximately 500 courses in the nation. So with around 100-120 players at each course, they give me a very rough estimate that there are about 75,000 FootGolfers in the United States.

After holes 5 and 6, my rank is probably 74,997.

Miraculously, though, I manage to shoot a 3, 2 and 4 to finish up the front nine and I’m feeling pretty good about myself.

“It gets easier from here,” Drew and Mic say. Liars.

On Hole 10, I connect on a booming tee shot, probably my hardest of the day. Clink! Right into a chain-link fence and into some nearby trees.

Drew and Mic started off as the target demographic for Kresson. The course wanted to bring in people ages 18-30 to play FootGolf but what they’ve found so far is that much younger players have been hitting the links. A bunch of 9- and 10-year-olds seem to love the game and some parents have asked about holding birthday parties at the course, which is something Kresson hopes to be able to do.

Most of the regulars at the course haven’t minded FootGolf either. In fact, many really like it, according to Slater, and want to find a way to bring their family members to try it. To make sure the layout of the FootGolf course made sense and wouldn’t interfere with golfers, Kresson enlisted the help of John Thompson, the director of the South Jersey FootGolf Association. The foursome — Slater, Slater, Keys and Thompson — roamed the course to play before the holes were dug to find out what worked.

“We tried to make a course that’s challenging for collegiate-level players,” Thompson says. “Keep people coming back. If it’s too easy, there’s no point in going back.”

The international sport came to the United States in 2011 and today there are around 100 USFGA certified and 400 uncertified courses, which encompass almost all 50 states.

Back to our round: the next few holes are filled with ups and downs before we get to 17. Like St. Andrews — the host course of this year’s British Open — the second-to-last hole at the Kresson FootGolf Course is a doozy. The hole is situated atop a steep hill, leaving little room for error. It’s so tough, Kresson is thinking about moving the hole back a few feet.

Somehow, I manage to play it safe and save par (4) but my counterparts aren’t so lucky. Drew finishes with a 7, while Mic and Joe — who joins us for the last few holes — finish with 8s.

“You guys wanna change that hole today?” says Joe as another one of his putts rolls the wrong way down the hill.

On the last — and much easier — hole, I finish my day with a par-4. I chug water as Drew tallies up the final scores. Drew finishes with a 71, Mic comes in second with a 79 and I finish with a respectable 80, just 4-over recreation and 14-over competition par.

It’s now 2:30 and we finished all 18 in around 90 minutes. As I climb back into my car, which has been baking in the 90-degree heat, my once-dry cotton-poly blend polo shirt is drenched with sweat and my right leg is throbbing thanks to my first shin splint in about a decade.

But I made it through and I wasn’t too bad.

Just one more question: Any way we get those bigger holes on the regular golf course?

Dave Zangaro; (856) 563-5255; dzangaro@gannettnj.com

If you go

The cost for a round of FootGolf at Kresson Golf Course is $15. FootGolf is offered during normal course hours Monday through Thursday and after 1 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Tee time appointments are not necessary.

Soccer cleats and spikes are not allowed. Players may bring their own soccer balls or can rent one from the course for $5 — first come, first served.